Completion of the Cathedral at Prague Castle – Prague Castle – Cathedral
Fact of the Czech figure „Patrons of the Czech Lands – Prague Castle – Cathedral”
Part of the „The patrons and guardians of the land” topic
Saint Vitus, Wenceslas, and Adalbert Cathedral at Prague Castle has been the site of royal coronations, the burial place of Czech kings, and the depository for the Czech crown jewels. It remains a symbol of Czech statehood. According to the vision of its founders in the mid-14th century, it was to be a Gothic triple-nave structure. However, for centuries, its monumental tower, connected to the nave by only a few incomplete arches, was a reminder that the cathedral remained unfinished.
In the 19th century, completing the cathedral, following the model of Cologne Cathedral, became an important goal for the Czech national movement. A stone-masonry workshop was reestablished based on medieval patterns, and from 1873, architects and builders Josef A. Kranner, Josef Mocker, and Kamil Hilbert worked on the Neo-Gothic completion of the cathedral.
The approaching millennium of Saint Wenceslas’s death provided the final impetus for the cathedral’s completion. President Tomáš G. Masaryk personally supported the national collection for its completion, and the state provided generous subsidies. The cathedral’s decoration involved the most prominent Czech artists, such as Alfons Mucha and Max Švabinský, who were associated with the representation of the new republic. Finally, in 1929, the cathedral was completed and consecrated.
